I have been buying decoys used here and there and now I have 41 mostly mallards. I plan to hunt mostly from my kayak and shallow places I can hunt with waders. My question is how many do I need? Iv read in some magazines where it sounds like they are using hundreds. I don’t think I could carry all the decoys I have plus gun, shells, and anything else I might need. Also I was wondering if I should buy some other breeds. Iv been seeing pintails and wood ducks. They seem to cost a lot more. Will they help that much? How many wood ducks would I need for them to help my spread? 5257 why is this so small? These are Carry Lite decoys. Are those female pintails or are they supposed to be something else? I think the guy I bought them from was selling them as blacks.The bodys of the two on the right are identical to the female mallards I have.

Last edited by Apoc on Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have shot birds over large spreads on big water and over 6 decoys. Depends on the area. Little beaver swamps don't require many. As far as the woody decoys, a few tossed out in areas you've seen them can never hurt.

tell us a bit more about the area you hunt-NOT specific location.

Generally, most birds will decoy to mallard decoys, but if there are divers in the area, a few bluebill dekes can help.

I mostly plan to hunt some local open swamp dnr wetland not many trees but fairly open not very deep. Also some ponds and a local lake if I can draw a blind. Those may be a little deeper. I had some wood ducks come into a dove setup I was hunting last year so I plan to try to hunt that also if it floods. It is a hay field that sets low next to a creek out of the wind. I have access to pretty much any type of environment but Im guessing the best spots are the dnr wetlands and the nearby lake that will be crowded right.

hard to say for sure, but a bag of +/- 24 decoys, mostly mallards, with a few pinnies and woodies should more than do the trick until you hunt lakes and larger bodies of water later in the year when a few diver dekes may help.